I remember one year my grandma, who is super crafty in my opinion, asked me like she always does, what I wanted for Christmas. I was probably about 13-14 years old and I asked if she would make me a pillow blanket. Basically a blanket that folds up into a pillow! She has some pretty quilted ones that always lived on her couches. The more I think about it now, there was something soo cozy about those pillow blankets. I’ve also heard them called “quillows” meaning quilt pillow and hers were definitely more that route. So I did get a bright yellow blanket pillow with sunflowers on it that Christmas, she also made one for each of my cousins! This page contains affiliate links to products. We may receive a commission for purchases made through these links.
I love a handmade gift, especially at the holidays so to kick off these next 12 days where I will share how to make a handmade holiday gift for yourself or someone else, I thought it was only fitting to share how to make a blanket pillow first!
Project time: About 1 hour
So to keep the blanket pillow on the easy side, I did chose a blanket that wasn’t getting much love in my house. It’s an older fleece blanket with Merida, that fiery princess, from Disney’s Brave. The blanket also has some pilling/pulled spots so it’s definitely not perfect anymore. You can also go out to the craft store and get fleece, this was just easier for me and I liked that the edges were all finished. Fleece doesn’t fray, but sometimes you have to be careful with these plushy blankets, they might shed if you cut them.
To start you’ll want to decide if you want your pillow blanket, when folded up to show the right side or the wrong side of the blanket. The picture above I have the blanket showing the design right side up. I figured I’d have the blanket in pillow form more than I would have it fully pulled out as a blanket so I decided to attach my pillow pocket to the right side of the blanket. To do this I turned my blanket to show the backside, or wrongside and began to fold it into thirds.
Then once it’s folded into thirds, you’ll want to fold, starting at the top until you reach the bottom. I tried to achieve a square shape. From here I flipped my square over so I can have access to what will be the bottom of the blanket. I then decided between using an old tshirt I wasn’t wearing or the matching fleece I ended up having – I used some of that fleece on Greyson’s fleece letters!
I couldn’t resist how much the fleece coordinated with the blanket so I went that route! Trim your shirt, or fleece, or whatever you’re using for the pocket to fit around the pillow. You’ll want to trim it up a bit more than I showed in the last picture above. I had it being about the same size as what was folded up. Also if your pocket has a “right side up” to the design of it, you’ll want that to be face down right now for pinning.
You’ll want to pin along the bottom and both sides, being careful to not pin through more than one layer of your blanket. You’ll leave the top of your pocket open. So the part where your blanket is all folded up, you don’t attach your pocket there! Carefully transport your blanket to your sewing machine and begin attaching the pocket with a straight stitch. If you don’t have a sewing machine since this only requires stitching on three sides you could sew this by hand! I’d recommend sewing a straight stitch.
The hard part is done! So once it’s all sewn you can fold up your blanket back into pillow form following the steps you did above, making sure to fold one side up to the pocket’s left side and then one side up to the pocket’s right side and then folding from the top down until you meet the edge of your blanket. Then you’ll reach into the pocket to a corner, and grab the corner with your hand and then pull that corner down. Basically flipping your pocket around to the other side to form the pillow!
Now you’ll notice you still have a raw edge for the top open part of your pillow. In the past I have left this as is because again, fleece doesn’t fray. BUT if you’d like to go the extra step just a simple blanket stitch would finish it off nicely! You can also sew a folded down edge with a straight line BEFORE you pin, just make sure that the folded edge (wrong side) is facing up.
A blanket stitch is pretty easy to do. I just folded an appropriate amount of fabric towards the pillow (backside of pocket) and began by sewing from the back to the front. Essentially a whip stitch. But before you finish the stitch you put the needle back through the loop you’re creating, which is how you get that blanket stitch effect! Also to do this with yarn and the fleece I use a strong, sharp tapestry needle.
If you need a large eyed sharp needle I recommend these you can find on amazon! – Large-Eye Stitching Needles for Leather Projects with Clear Bottle, 20 Pieces (5.2 cm) The eye is large enough to squish in yarn and it’s sharp enough to get through fleece.
I finished off the blanket stitch by making a knot in the back. I think the blanket stitch on this pillow blanket made for a very polished product in the end!
You can get pretty creative with what blankets you use to make your pillow blanket. When I was working on renovating my camper I was going through my parents old camping gear from their Boy Scout leader days and found two old Boy Scout Sleeping bags. They were pretty musty smelling but overall in okay shape. I took them both home and washed them. Then I cut off the zippers, made a binding out of knit fabric to finish off the left, right and bottom sides of the blanket and did a blanket stitch to the top. I also recall one or both were kind of lumpy in spots so after cutting the zipper and top off I was able to remove the lumps and replace with a little poly fil if needed. To date they are still some of my favorite creations!
Those designs you see were actually the inside of the sleeping bags! It seemed a shame to let them keep being sleeping bags and not being used, right? They’re really soft too because the designs are flannel.
When I was saying to make sure your wrong side is up when pinning, this is what I mean! I had to make a little panel to make this pocket big enough so I made sure it was facing up when I pinned it down so when it’s in pillow form it’s all pretty with the seam on the inside!
I can’t wait to see what you guys make your pillow blankets out of! Remember you can be as creative as you want and it doesn’t have to cost and arm and a leg! Also remember crafting is suppose to be fun so don’t worry about perfection!
Check back tomorrow for another handmade holiday craft!
xoxo
-Robin
